


Intemperance

by Vermin_Disciple



Category: Life on Mars (UK)
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Character Study, M/M, Wordcount: 100-500
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-01
Updated: 2013-05-01
Packaged: 2017-12-10 01:59:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/780472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vermin_Disciple/pseuds/Vermin_Disciple
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The most surprising thing is that when it happens, they are both completely sober.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Intemperance

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for the Sober Challenge at [1973flashfic](http://1973flashfic.livejournal.com), ages and ages ago. Not posted then because it didn’t feel finished. Today I’ve dusted it off, rearranged it slightly and added a couple of sentences. Represents one of my very few attempts at writing Sam/Gene (probably with good reason).

The most surprising thing is that when it happens, they are both completely sober. 

Sam had never envisioned that. 

He had envisioned rather a lot about this eventuality, but what he had imagined was sensation dulled by a haze of alcohol. Admissions and admonitions slurred between them, each breath that passed between them rank enough to poison small animals. 

And if not drunk, then surely angry. He'd thought of that, too. The way they fought – they were famous for it, weren't they? The way Gene never failed to get a rise out of him, to get his blood up. The way he picked, and provoked and pushed until Gene pushed back, pushed him up against the nearest wall. 

If it happened, he'd always half-suspected it would be like that – they'd be in one another's faces; one minute, one of them would throw a punch, the next, they'd be tossing each other off between shelves of yellowing paperwork with the door unlocked and danger in the air. Like some Goddamn romance novel cliché – Slap, Slap, Kiss. 

Well, they were never going to have a healthy relationship, were they? If he was capable of simple happiness, he would have married Annie when he had the chance. 

( _No, you can't have simple happiness, not when there's someone else that you're in--_ )

But for once, everything is calm between them. 

So when it happens, it startles him. 

Maybe it shouldn’t have; he’d predicted that it would happen, eventually. They were drawn to each other. He’d observed the situation, he’d collected as much evidence as he could, he had analyzed that evidence and he had made his best educated guess based on what he had discovered. Then he’d thrown all that aside and looked to his instincts, felt for what he knew in his gut. That the two conclusions matched was not a happy coincidence; it was a grim confirmation.

Grim confirmation. That’s what he’d told himself. Grim. Their prospects were grim. The chances that this would be anything other than a few minutes of drunken contact to relieve a tension they had known for months and not acknowledged: grim. 

If their relationship was a house of cards, then this one was at the very bottom: base and hidden, a primal secret. One wrong move and it would bring the whole thing tumbling down. 

If they could write it off as an act of senseless drunken revelry, then maybe they stood a chance.

Sober, though. What could be denied in sobriety? 

"I need a drink," he announces. 

Gene grins - "You don't. I've had enough for both of us, Sammy-Boy" – and throws an empty hipflask at his head.

He’s lying. His eyes are too clear, too focused, too intent. And his aim is too good, Sam thinks, rubbing his ear resentfully. 

Then there are steady fingers in his hair, and dry lips on his, and when he reaches out he can feel the rhythm of Gene’s heart beneath his hand.

Artificial intoxicants are overrated. 

_Finis_


End file.
